Spying on Google Maps

February 16, 2008 4:15 PM

Out of curiousity, how would one arrange a Google Maps image of oneself?

Are the timings of the satellite images (and their selection for inclusion in Google Maps) sufficiently predictable? In short, would it be possible to have a nice picnic recorded on Google Maps? Thanks for any information!

posted by RGD to computers & internet (12 comments total)

My understanding is that they do it without telling anybody, although there has been at least one exception.
posted by mhz at 4:32 PM on February 16, 2008

No, this would be impossible the date and time the images are taken are not predictable in the slightest. And in most cases they are not updated for years (or many months at the shortest interval.) Also, only images unobstructed by clouds or whether would be included in the maps. Lastly, the company that is compiling the satellite imagery (for later licensing to Google) would never disclose the exact time and date the photograph was taken for privacy reasons.
posted by dendrite at 4:35 PM on February 16, 2008

Are you talking about a satellite view or the street level view? If you're talking about street level view, you need to be on the sidewalk when the Google camera van drives by to film, but there's no telling when that will happen.
posted by HotPatatta at 5:47 PM on February 16, 2008

Doh! Somehow I glossed over the part of your question that specifically asked about satellite view.
posted by HotPatatta at 5:48 PM on February 16, 2008

Absent a tip-off from within Google, your best bet is to set out your message and wait for Google to come to you.
posted by mumkin at 6:09 PM on February 16, 2008

There is also this exception, from summer 2006.
posted by migurski at 6:21 PM on February 16, 2008

Plus it's usually not satellites. The commercial satellite imagery places, like GeoEye with IKONOS, only have 1-meter color imagery, which is not particularly impressive looking compared to aerial photos.
posted by smackfu at 6:53 PM on February 16, 2008

Yeah. First of all, the imaging companies are doing this for a variety of potential clients, not just Google. For the most part, they are not re-imaging on any type of schedule other than consumer demand. Metro areas would get hit more often but it's more on the level of "our Chicago stuff is 3 years old, so we should update" than "June 14, time for Lincoln Park!" Second, Google uses a variety of vendors, and there's little (in my experience) rhyme or reason to that, except that they do sometimes seem to cherry-pick certain images, and again, metro areas get more updates and more resolution in general.

My current location is the worst-resolution satellite image possible and hasn't been updated in five years, so all I can say is good luck.
posted by dhartung at 7:51 PM on February 16, 2008

Thanks again for all the help - hmm, some things to consider.
posted by RGD at 1:39 AM on February 17, 2008

Well, you could always use the Gmaps API to make your own interface including an image overlay.
posted by agentofselection at 1:43 AM on February 17, 2008

Talk to your municipality and see when they're updating their orthoimagery? You might want to talk to the contractors, too - but even at the resolution these are typically shot (30cm per pixel), your picnic will be blocky.

I managed to be inadvertently in the Huron County air photos. Somewhere in Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh, there's my beige Civic scooting around doing survey work.
posted by scruss at 5:49 AM on February 17, 2008

Incidentally, you can still see my late lamented little red car parked in the lot where I work now and at the place where I worked before. Occasionally I take a sentimental peek at it in both locations. I'll be sorry when they update those images.
posted by tangerine at 3:14 PM on February 19, 2008